Just something to think about. Many clearly don't have a clue as to what's going on around them. Take for instance, one day I said to my wife, "I bet you if I randomly ask five people, who is the Vice-President of the USA", a majority won't know. She said "No way, I'll take that bet." I won. So, just to throw this out there, here's some off the cuff ideas to "Limit" the people that could be eligible to vote in Presidential election. By the way, there is NO RIGHT TO VOTE in a federal election. I know, I know some think there is, but there's not. Sorry. 1) Require passing a very, basic political science test. 2) Require current real estate ownership. 3) Require federal taxes being paid in the previous year. (maybe even given additional votes, based on amount of taxes paid)
You should go into the polling station and be shown a picture of Obama, Biden, McCain and Palin. You should be required to correctly identify them. You should then have know that Palin is McCain's VP candidate and that Biden is Obama's. Shockingly, John Stossel found that over 1/4 of the people who he talked to, all of whom planned to vote, could not do these very simple things. I don't think I'm asking for too much that you just be able to do the above. If you can, then you vote and your vote counts. If you can not complete the above task, you are still allowed to vote (we'd hate to have to make anyone feel left out), but your vote goes into a special box and it does not count.
4) Require voters to be holders of stock or bonds, etc. The whole idea is, that maybe voters should be required to have a minimal vested ownership in America OR at least minimal knowledge of our political system. Does one party benefit from many voters literally being led by hand like a child to voting booths. Possibly.
Some basic questions seem appropriate. You shouldn't be picking people for a job you don't understand, right? Not saying you need to know exactly how to do the job, but you should have a basic understanding of what it requires. If you don't know what the leg, jud and exe branches do, you aren't qualified to "hire" people for those jobs (or in the case of the judicial branch, hire people to appoint other people). But that'll never happen. It would be the end of the democrat party, for one thing. And it's easy to see that minorities would be well "over represented" in the group of people who don't know much about government. So they'd be shut out. Think we have trouble now? Go tell the black people "Y'all ain't smart nuff ta vote" which is exactly how they'd interprete any sort of knowledge requirement. The cities would burn.
Absolutely we should go back to the poll tax...oh yes only free white males who earn over $250K while we are at it. Come on we elected GWB......we will make mistakes from time to time but its a REPUBLIC, a democracy and if you are old enough to drink, carry a gun and give your life for your country YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO VOTE!
another group of people that are too brain dead to vote...... check out these saps.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVIPF_PmHuQ
Yes, we're a republic, but there's no right to vote. I'm simply suggesting some kind of minimal ownership in America as a requirement to vote. With ownership, comes concern.
I used to think so too. Back when I was young, dumb and stupid. Now I know better. "The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965)
Increasingly I believe the payment of Federal taxes should be a requirement to vote in Federal elections and the payment of property taxes a requirement to vote locally. America is headed down a slippery slope by allowing those with no tax liability to elect candidates who'll redistribute assets. Once upon a time preaching higher taxes was a death knell. Today it's not. Why? Because almost half of all voters don't pay Federal income tax. While I don't expect each of us to have an equal stake in the cost of government each of should bare some stake.